2. The number of PCT international patent applications filed in 2013 passed 12,000

The number of international patent applications filed by the Republic of Korea in 2013 was 12,439, an increase of 4.8% in comparison with the previous year. This is the first time that the number of the international patent applications filed by the Republic of Korea has passed 12,000 since it joined the patent cooperation treat (PCT) in 1984.

This number is about hundred (100) times the 128 cases which is the number of applications filed in 1993, twenty (20) years ago. The Republic of Korea is expected to easily keep the position within the five (5) powerful countries of the world in filing the PCT applications, which it has kept since 2010 based on such growth. The five (5) powerful countries are the US, Japan, China, Germany and the Republic of Korea. (The other four (4) countries, except for the Republic of Korea, have not yet published the results of 2013 in the number of the PCT international patent applications.)

In the ranking of filing the international patent applications in 2013, Samsung Electronics (with 1,328 cases) took 1st place, beating LG Electronics (with 1,225 cases) which had maintained the 1st place for the seventh consecutive year from 2006 to 2012, followed by LG Chemical, Cheil Industries and LG Innotek. Three (3) government-run institutes, that is, Korea institute of Energy Research (6th place in ranking), Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (9th place) and Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (10th place), are included in the top 10, ranked along with the leading big Korean companies.

3. KIPO has started an integrated searching service of non-patent documents to create strong patents

According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the integrated searching service of non-patent documents has started from February, to expand the range of providing non-patent documents and to provide with integrated search environments.

Previously, upon examining patents, examiners individually searched non-patent documents by using publishers or internet sites. However, this service enables examiners to conduct integrated searches by one click in one site, so that it is expected to greatly contribute to the improvement of examination efficiency.

The document information provided with this service includes: - about 730,000 cases of mobile broadband communications standard technology (3GPP: 3rd generation partnership project) and internet standard technology (IETF) newly structured in 2013, - about 6,000 cases of internet publicly known technology and architecture documents as previously separately provided, - pay/free electronic journals, such as about 83,000 of nature, sciences, etc. as provided by individual publishers, and- electronic journals, such as about 347,000 Korean/foreign cases as provided by Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI).

Together with domestic and foreign standardization organizations, KIPO will continuously expand the range of providing each country’s standard technology documents and pay/free electronic journals, to improve the efficiency and quality of examination, based on this integrated search service of non-patent documents.

4. The number of patent applications filed in 2013 passed 200,000

According to the 2013 IP (intellectual property) statistical trend data published by KIPO, the number of patent applications filed in 2013 was 204,589. The number of the patent applications was about 200 in 1949, about 5,000 in 1980, and about 100,000 in 2000, doubling in 2013 over the thirteen (13) years.

The total number of IP (patent, utility model, design and trademark) applications filed with KIPO in 2013 was 430,164, showing an increase of 8.4% compared with the previous year. The number of trademark applications filed in 2013 was 147,667, increasing 11.4% compared with the previous year, showing the highest increase among the entire applications for IP rights.

The total number of registered IP rights (patents, utility models, designs and trademarks) in 2013 was 280,689, increasing by 15.1% compared with the previous year. The IP rights showing the highest increase were trademark rights with a 28.5% increase.